Portugal Turns to Former Colony for Growth

LISBON — António Cunha Vaz, along with his mother and sister, was part of a mass exodus of Portuguese from Angola in 1975, when it gained independence before descending into a devastating civil war.

But in 2008, Mr. Cunha Vaz opened an office of his Lisbon-based public relations consultancy in Luanda, the capital of Angola, and last year, the company derived 37 percent of its 22 million euros ($28 million) in revenue from Angola.

Portugal, one of Europe’s ailing economies, is increasingly placing its hopes of recovery on Angola, a former colony that has established itself as one of the strongest economies in sub-Saharan Africa — thanks largely to oil and diamonds. The shift comes as competition is getting stiffer in Brazil, another booming former colony, and as Portugal’s traditional European trading partners, led by Spain, struggle under a mountain of debt and soaring joblessness. More……